PHYSICAL OCEANOGEAPHY OF THE GULF OF MAINE 
535 
Only one other feature of this end of the profile calls for attention — the encroach- 
ment of water warmer than 7° on the southern side of Georges Bank and the abrupt 
transition in bottom temperature across the latter from north to south (4° to 12°). 
The inner parts of the gulf at the coldest season are warmest (5° to 6°) at the 
bottom, coldest (2°) along shore and within 10 to 20 meters of the surface. 
The wedge-shaped contour of this coldest water (3°), projecting shelflike over 
the basin, with slightly higher temperatures above it as well as below (fig. 15), taken 
by itself might suggest some overflow by warmer surface water from the south. 
The vertical uniformity of salinity in the upper stratum (p. 705), however, favors 
